Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lectures

Eric Abbott was Dean of Westminster between 1959 and 1974. Before that, he was Dean at King's College, London (1945–1955), Chaplain to King George VI and HM Queen Elizabeth II, and Warden of Keble College, Oxford.

He died in 1983 and was buried in the Abbey's Nave. His friends set up a memorial trust to provide for an annual lecture on spirituality, and we held the first one in 1986. The lecture is repeated each year at Keble College.

Painting of Eric Symes Abbott, Dean of Westminster 1959-1974

Further Reading

You can obtain booklets of the Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lectures from King's College London.

You can also download Eric Symes Abbott's The Mystery of the Transfiguration: Seven Meditations (PDF, 964KB)


Past lectures archive

34th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

The Most Spiritual of the Arts: Music, Modernity, and the Search for the Sacred

Speaker: Sir James MacMillan, composer, conductor and artistic director

Thursday, 9th May 2019

33rd Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Beating the Bounds: Parish Ministry and Spirituality Today

Speaker: The Reverend Richard Coles FKC, Vicar of Finedon, Northamptonshire

Thursday, 24th May 2018

32nd Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Faith and Imagination – How the Arts speak to the reality of the Unseen

Speaker: Salley Vickers, author and critic

Thursday, 11th May 2017

31st Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

The Sacred, the Profane and the Desecrated

Speaker: Professor Roger Scruton, philosopher, public commentator and author

Thursday, 26th May 2016

30th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Blessed are the Hypocrites?

Speaker: The Reverend Lucy Winkett, Rector, St James's Piccadilly

Thursday, 21st May 2015

29th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Beyond Justice

Speaker: The Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields

Friday, 25th July 2014

28th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Constantine's Vision and the Church Today - From the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (AD 312) to the twenty-first century

Speaker: Professor Dame Averil Cameron FSA FKC, Former Warden of Keble College, Oxford

Thursday, 2nd May 2013

27th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Mis-establishment - Locating, and Re-locating, the Church of England

Speaker: The Right Reverend Dr Peter Selby, President of the National Council for Independent Monitoring Boards, Visiting Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College, London; formerly Bishop of Worcester and Bishop to HM Prisons

Thursday, 10th May 2012

26th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

The Word in Print

Speaker: The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Dr Richard Chartres KCVO, Bishop of London

Thursday, 26th May 2011

25th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

The End of the Permissive Society? Towards a Christian understanding of the common good

Speaker: The Rt Revd the Lord Harries of Pentregarth FKC, Former Bishop of Oxford, Gresham Professor of Divinity, and Honorary Professor of Theology at King's College London

Thursday, 6th May 2010

24th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Religious and Scientific Faith - The case of Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’

Speaker: The Revd Professor Alister McGrath Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education at King's College London

Thursday, 14th May 2009

23rd Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

The Mystical Turn - Religious Experience in the Modern World

Speaker: The Reverend Canon Dr Jane Shaw, Dean of Divinity, Chaplain and Fellow, New College Oxford and Canon Theologian, Salisbury Cathedral

Thursday, 8th May 2008

22nd Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Being Biblical? Slavery, Sexuality, and the Inclusive Community

Speaker: The Revd Dr Richard A Burridge, Dean, King's College, London

Thursday, 10th May 2007

21st Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

A New Song in a Strange Land - The contribution of women to the priestly ministry of the Church

Speaker: The Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, Dean of Leicester

Thursday, 11th May 2006

20th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

A Room with a View - the Aspiration of a Parish Church

Speaker: The Reverend Nicholas Holtam Vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Thursday, 12th May 2005

19th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

The Crisis of Truth Telling in Our Society

Speaker: Father Timothy Radcliffe OP

Thursday, 27th May 2004

18th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Beyond Racism and Sectarianism: Is Religion the Problem or the Solution?

Speaker: The Revd Professor Duncan B Forrester New College, The University of Edinburgh

Thursday, 8th May 2003

17th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Spiritual Society, Secular Church?

Speaker: The Revd Mark Oakley, St Paul's Covent Garden

Thursday, 2nd May 2002

16th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Deep Time: Does It Matter?

Speaker: Professor Stephen Clark, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool

Thursday, 10th May 2001

15th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

A Knowledge of Angels - How Spiritual Are the English?

Speaker: The Revd Canon Dr Martyn Percy

Thursday, 4th May 2000

14th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Who is to judge? The role of the judiciary in ethical issues

Speaker: The Rt Hon Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss

Thursday, 6th May 1999

13th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Spirituality, Shakespeare and Royalty

Speaker: The Revd Canon Eric James FKC

Thursday, 7th May 1998

12th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Waiting for God

Speaker: The Rt Rev. and Rt Hon. Lord Habgood

Thursday, 15th May 1997

11th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

When Shall We Live?

Speaker: David Hare, Playwright

Thursday, 9th May 1996

10th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Deconstructing the Church’s Ministry

Speaker: The Most Revd Richard Holloway D.D., Bishop of Edinburgh, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Thursday, 4th May 1995

9th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Christian Counsel and the Meaning of Wholeness

Speaker: The Revd David Conner

Monday, 9th May 1994

8th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

He Made the Stars Also

Speaker: Angela Tilbyat

Monday, 24th May 1993

7th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

John of the Cross and the Gospel according to Mark

Speaker: John Fenton

Thursday, 7th May 1992

6th Eric Symes Abbot Memorial Lecture

The Spiritual in Art

Speaker: Timothy Schroder

Wednesday, 26th June 1991

5th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

For Their Sakes I Consecrate Myself

Speaker: The Very Reverend Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral San Francisco

Thursday, 31st May 1990

4th Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

On Being Creatures

Speaker: Professor Rowan Williams, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford

Monday, 15th May 1989

3rd Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Spirituality and Music

Speaker: Dame Janet Baker

Wednesday, 1st June 1988

2nd Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Spirituality in a Violent Society

Speaker: The Rt Revd Simeon Nkoane CR, Assistant Bishop of Johannesburg

Thursday, 21st May 1987

1st Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lecture

Speaker: His Eminence Cardinal Basil Hume OSB, Archbishop of Westminster

Wednesday, 4th June 1986

Sermon at Memorial Eucharist For Eric Symes Abbott

at Lincoln Theological College

The Reverend John Robson. Chaplain of Wellington College, Berkshire

Wednesday, 12th June 1985